Association to Preserve Cape Cod seeks public records from Guard general
JOINT BASE CAPE COD — The Association to Preserve Cape Cod has filed a public records request for all communications sent by a general to federal, state and local elected officials, following an email he sent earlier this month.
Brig. Gen. Christopher Faux, the executive director of Joint Base Cape Cod, sent an email to the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce threatening to withdraw military support from area businesses if the business community did not support a proposed machine-gun range at the base.
Faux’s email warned that he was recommending to the Adjutant General command that soldiers remain on the base during their training sessions, and that base employees travel off-Cape to buy goods and services.
More: Guard general threatens to withdraw support from Cape businesses over proposed gun range
In his email, Faux called critics of the range “naysayers, activists and anti-military groups.”
“General Faux’s recent threats to the Cape Cod business community raise valid questions about whether there are other, similar, communications to key policy makers that would further erode confidence in the legitimacy of the public process surrounding the machine gun range project,” said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the non-profit environmental advocacy and education organization, in a statement.
The public records request seeks all documents, including emails and letters related to the proposed Joint Base Cape Cod multi-purpose machine-gun range sent by Faux to elected state and federal officials, according to the statement.
More than 5,000 acres would be required to accommodate the machine gun range, since it would include the area where projectiles fired on the range would land, based on the weapons and ammunition used. To create that space, the National Guard plans to clear 170 acres of forest and disturb about 199 acres of land.
On April 30, the National Guard Bureau found the gun range would not have a significant impact on the surrounding environment. The Environmental Management Commission still needs to approve the project before it can move forward.
Gottlieb said the public deserves to know if there were other threats made to government officials by the National Guard’s representatives.
“The public must have confidence that officials elected by us are free to act in the best interests of their constituents without fear of reprisal from the National Guard,” Gottlieb said in a statement.
Following the disclosure of Faux's letter, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Air National Guard said: "The General's comments were not authorized and do not reflect the Massachusetts National Guard’s decades-long commitment to support local business on Cape Cod."
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